Precision flying

Back and forth they soar and swoop, the acrobats of the agricultural world:

Alex Breitler

Back and forth they soar and swoop, the acrobats of the agricultural world:

Crop dusters.

We've all seen them, maybe while driving down Interstate 5 or Highway 99. It's a practice that dates back more than a century, and today continues to support a $2.8 billion farm economy in San Joaquin County.

Yet the investigation still under way into a widely publicized pesticide drift in the north Delta earlier this spring raises obvious questions: How often do planes or helicopters miss their targets, and what are the consequences?

A Record analysis of state reports dating from the 1990s to 2011 shows that while pesticide drifts still occur here, they are less common than they used to be - or, perhaps, are less commonly reported.

The number of people sickened by pesticides has also generally decreased since the 1990s. The majority of pesticide-related illnesses in San Joaquin County actually have nothing to do with agriculture; and among those that do, a good share involve pesticides that were applied on the ground - not from the air.

"You see these aircraft and think, 'Well, gee, that stuff probably isn't going to go where they want it to go,'" said Terry Gage, president of the Lincoln-based California Agricultural Aircraft Association. "But there's actually a lot of planning and education that goes on in the process. There's a lot of due care."

The San Joaquin County agricultural commissioner continues to investigate the errant spraying that took place last May at Bouldin Island. Little information has been released, though the commissioner's office said earlier this month that public health risks appear to be minimal and the harm to crops is probably less than initially feared.

Several local crop dusting businesses contacted by The Record were reluctant to publicly discuss the nature of their work, given the sensitive nature of the investigation.

But Gage spoke on their behalf, explaining that pilots are required to be licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration and the state Department of Pesticide Regulation.

Even if they've been dusting crops for 20 years in Iowa, pilots must go through a lengthy apprenticeship program before they can spray in California, Gage said. That's because of this state's diverse array of crops - many of which react differently to various pesticides - as well as the state's sensitive environment when it comes to air quality and Delta waterways.

Technology also makes a difference, Gage said. Global positioning system devices make aerial spraying more accurate, mostly eliminating the need for personnel on the ground. Ninety-two percent of the planes and helicopters across the country are equipped with GPS, according to a state report.

Finally, pesticide applicators are trained to constantly monitor the weather, Gage said. If the winds shift to an unfavorable direction, it's not uncommon for them to give up and go home, and try again the next day.

"Because the helicopters or fixed-wing (planes) are so visual, there's always been more scrutiny" on their operations, she said. "That has increased our professional standards. And that's why we don't have as many incidents with aerials."

But make no mistake: There are still incidents.

In 2011, the most recent year for which detailed data were available, 14 farm workers in Imperial County were sickened after a plane applied pesticides to an alfalfa field about a mile away. The applicator was cited, according to the state.

The same year, in Merced County, pesticides applied to a cornfield drifted into a residential area. One family said they could "taste" and smell the chemicals; they sealed their doors with duct tape to keep the fumes out of the house. Ultimately, 11 people experienced symptoms such as burning eyes, labored breathing, headaches and blotchy skin.

In San Joaquin County, even as the agricultural commissioner investigated the Bouldin Island spray, a smaller-scale incident was reported in the south Delta on July 10. According to state Office of Emergency Services documents, a witness reported that a crop duster sprayed chemicals over Grant Line Canal. The spray continued past its intended field for several hundred yards, according to the report, and "the cloud was very large and the water in the canal (was) covered in the substance." The caller reported having difficulty breathing.

County agricultural commissioners across California are tasked with investigating these kinds of incidents.

But they don't have much regulatory authority, one concerned activist said. That authority belongs to the state, making it difficult for everyday citizens or neighbors to challenge spraying operations if they feel their health is at risk.

"It's confusing for community members to navigate the system," said Tracey Brieger, codirector of Oakland-based Californians for Pesticide Reform. "What we've seen overwhelmingly, especially in towns up and down Highway 99, is that many community members had been drifted on multiple times, and nobody knew who to contact."

When you factor in language barriers and the fact that spraying might occur on nights or weekends when government offices aren't open to receive complaints, pesticide drift cases are likely underreported, Brieger said.

"We just don't really know how often it happens," she said. "Anecdotally, it happens way more often than reports actually show."

Pesticide drift isn't necessarily immediate. Chemicals can spread days after an application, particularly with fumigant gases that are injected into the soil and slowly released into the air. Tarps are typically used to prevent the gas from spreading past the fields.

You're not necessarily going to see a cloud of pesticides, either. The chemicals in a drift incident might be invisible.

In documents, state officials acknowledge that some drift is inevitable but add that not all drift is illegal or harmful.

Still, information about potential health risks continues to come to light. In June, a University of California, Davis, study revealed that pregnant women who live within a mile or so of fields and farms where pesticides are used face an increased risk of having a child with autism or other developmental problems.

As the study's lead author, Janie Shelton, put it: "If it were my family, I wouldn't want to live close to where heavy pesticides are being applied."

Contact reporter Alex Breitler at (209) 546-8295 or abreitler@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/breitlerblog and on Twitter @alexbreitler.